From German patent DE 36 35 068 C2 a method of thermally disposing of waste such as soil, garbage, problematic wastes and sewage sludges contaminated with noxious substances is known in which all substances capable of being volatilized are transformed into the gaseous and/or vapor phase and separated from the solid products for disposal in this method the volatile substances stemming from the degassing procedure separated from the solid degassed products are passed over a solid bed of coke operating at a temperature of approx. 1200.degree. C. in a reducing atmosphere excluding air and subsequently further purified before being applied to the high-temperature stage for incineration of the solid degasing products. This method makes no mention of it being suitable for processing particularly scrap metal.
As a single system a high-temperature gasifier stage is also known. This system requires, however, a high percentage of free primary energy.
Known as such are also pyrolysis stages. Here, however, cleaning the pyrolysis gas and the waste water is problematic and, apart from this, the coke used for pyrolysis is expensive in disposal.